Bella's Thirteenth
by Chloe Grey
Summary: Bella's Thirteenth birthday. PreForks obviously. RnR!


This is more about Bella and Renee's relationship than it is the event, and there are some jokes here and there you guys may get.

_Happy birthday, Bella, _I thought to myself. With a sigh, I set my backpack on the floor and made my way to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and grabbed the first thing I saw- a bloodred apple- then migrated into the living room. Taking a bite, I sat on the beige couch that curved around the TV, and pressed 'power' on the remote. I never was one to watch too much TV, but today - September 13th - I flipped through the channels out of boredom.  
Now, I cant lie, I _was_ surprised that nobody had greeted me at the door with balloons and the whole charade, but it really shouldn't have shocked me. Renee was probably out with David. She had yoga at four... or had she quit, already?  
I decided to call. I stopped flipping at random, and walked around the corner to the phone. Picking up the handset, I dialed the familiar number indifferently, twisting the cord around my finger.  
"Hey, Bella," I heard my mother say, "happy birthday, Honey. David and I... got caught up."  
"Okay, thanks. When are you coming home?" I sighed.  
"I'll be there around six. Hey, there's some fives on my dresser, can you order a pizza for the two of us?" She sounded distracted.  
"Yeah, Mom. Will do."  
"Oh," she sighed, "I just can't believe you're thirteen, already. Well, technically, you were born thirty, so you're almost middle aged." She sighed agian.  
"Alright, Mom," I laughed, "See you soon."  
"Bye, Bella. Oh, do your homework."  
She hung up, and I set the phone back on the hook. I walked slowly back into the living room. There was a nerdy red head on the TV screen joking with someone. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I knew the show almost immediately, it was one of the more popular shows on cable, and everyone raved about it at school. I, personally, didn't understand what was so cool about it. I mean, what is so great about vampires; they _eat_ people.  
Rolling my eyes, I clicked the TV off, and searched through the kitchen for pizza coupons. Renee was impredictable, and they may as well have been in space. Finally, I found them, under the milk carton, and dialed the 1-800 number carefully. I ordered a small cheese- Renee was supposedly going veggie, though I could tell it wouldn't last long. I saw her eyeing some sausage longingly this morning...  
"Fifty-eight twenty-one," I paused, listening to the scratchy female on the other side. "Yes, Scottsdale. Okay, thanks."  
After I'd hung up, I went to my backpack and took out my math book. Since I despised this subject, I decided to get it over with. However, after about ten minutes of not-so-diligent working, I got bored and escaped into my room. The walls were the pale yellow Renee had painted over the dull white when we had first moved in, after fleeing a green little town known as Forks, Washinton. I had been there three months ago,to visit my Charlie, my dad. I didn't mind visiting him but it was cold and awkward there. Not to mention the fishing trips, and the police car that made just getting to the grocery store an extended road trip.  
Happy here in Phoenix, I sat down on my bed and stared at myself in the mirror that covered my closet door. Being thirteen was supposed to be a big change, but as far as I could tell nothing had changed. Brown hair, straighter, maybe, thin... pale. Deadly pale... had I often been judged albino? Yes. Was I albino? No, but I sometimes wondered...  
The doorbell rang, and I hurried to open it. It was the pizza man, of course. What was I expecting? Renne would have probably just would have come in.  
"Hi. Um... I'll be right back." I said and raced into my mom's room. I made my way, through the heaps of dirty clothes, to her dresser, grabbed the money, and skipped out. "Here."   
He thrust the pizza at me and walked away, bored.  
As I set the box on the counter by the sink, I noted it was almost six thirty. This didn't surprise me, I was expecting her at eight, already.  
However, at seven forty-five on the dot she came stumbling in with a cake in one hand and her purse, keys, and sunglasses in the other. She smiled apologetically abd set the cake next to the cold pizza.  
"Long line?" I inquired, placing a slice in the microwave for her.  
"No ac- yeah. There was." She opened the cake and stuck her finger in the frosting.  
"Right." I pulled her finger off my cake.  
"Hey it could be posionous," she complained.  
I just smiled and got the candles. After putting in my thirteen - Renee insisted there be exactly the same number of candles as years of my life, and this had been a tradition since I could count - I made a wish at random, having learned by now that I had nowhere near enough luck for anything _I _wished to come true. Then we ate pizza and watched some chick flick from the 80's. After the movie, I opened my gifts. Of course, being me, I got a papercut on my _shoulder_ - don't ask how I managed that. I also tripped on a tennis racket that had been left in my doorway, hitting my head on the bed post, and had to get stitches.  
To that, all my mother said was, "Bella, will you ever have a birthday where we _don't _visit the local hospital?"


End file.
